No one forced you to continue to read it when it became too long for you.
FR, a moveable feast, has always had interesting history posts, and you always learn from history.
This particular article was of particular interest to me because I had a grandfather from southern Germany, a grandmother from what was Prussia....plus a great-great grandfather that actually fought in the Franco-Prussian war described in the article
I have a fading photo of him as an old, old man standing erectly and proudly in his saved uniform with all his medals on the jacket.
Danke schon, Pelham.
Leni
Fascinating how history builds upon itself. Prussia creams France in the Franco-Prussian War and:
“On Jan. 18, 1871, Bismarck achieved his lifelong goal by proclaiming a new German Empire, a second Reich. Even more deliciously, he did so in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the historic symbol of French political and cultural splendor.”
Built upon resentment of having lost the Franco-Prussian War, France with its allies, forces the Germans to surrender at the end of WWI and sign the Treaty of Versailles in same said location.
Built upon resentment of having lost WWI to France and its allies and having been saddled with onerous reparations by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany retaliates during WWII and invades France shortly after the start of the War, and captures Paris/Versailles and occupies the City.
And the beat goes on. Now Germany has recaptured much of the EU though a different form of power, economic power, and thus calls the shots politically for much of how the EU is shaped. What goes around continually comes around.